NEED OF KUROILER MODEL OF COMMERCIAL BACKYARD POULTRY FARMING IN RURAL INDIA
Compiled & Edited by-DR RAJESH KUMAR SINGH ,JAMSHEDPUR,JHARKHAND, INDIA, 9431309542,rajeshsinghvet@gmail.com
In recent years there has been growing recognition among the development community of the role of small-scale commercial poultry production in accelerating the pace of poverty reduction and reaching out to the poorest of the poor. There is also growing evidence to demonstrate the role of small-scale poultry in enhancing the food and nutrition security of the poorest households and in the promotion of gender equality. At the same time, the market and production context of poultry production has been changing rapidly over the last two decades. Rapid economic growth and urbanization in developing countries has resulted in fast expansion of industrial, large-scale, vertically integrated, poultry production, especially in Asia. In India, poultry sector growth is being driven by rising income, together with the emergence of vertically integrated poultry producers that have reduced consumer prices by lowering production and marketing costs .Poultry in agriculture segment is one of the fastest growing sectors in India with an average growth rate of 6 per cent in egg production and 12 per cent for broiler production per annum. Marketing plays a vital role in connecting producers and consumers. Efficient marketing of the produce is crucial for existence of any enterprise and the economic motive behind that is the profit which could be achieved again through efficient marketing only
Opportunities have also expanded for small-scale poultry enterprises, resulting from improved market access and infrastructure, and a preference structure that may still favour free-range birds and eggs. As a result, there has been increased market orientation even among small-scale poultry enterprises. These changes have brought large and small production systems into overlapping competitive space, which has created both challenges and opportunities. These changes have raised concerns about the sustainability of small-scale poultry production systems due to:
(i) intensified competition from large-scale producers who can exercise significant control over the poultry value chain (including concentrated holding of genetic stock of industrial poultry by a few transnational corporations); and
(ii) (ii) the public perception that small units of production may be dangerous reservoirs of diseases, specially in the wake of recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
. In recent years there has been increasing recognition of the role of backyard poultry in enhancing poor peoples’ livelihoods in developing countries. Market oriented backyard poultry enterprises are being recognized as a stepping stone for the poorest households enabling them to take the first step towards breaking out of the vicious circle of poverty. There is also growing evidence to demonstrate the role of rural family poultry in enhancing the food and nutrition security of poorest households, reducing the livelihood vulnerability, and promotion of gender equity . Despite the potential offered by backyard poultry production in reaching out to the poorest, there has been little public support for backyard poultry in India. Recently, however, Government of India and a number of State governments have become sensitive to the potential offered by this activity and have begun to promote backyard poultry through various schemes. Similarly, there is growing awareness among the private sector players of the ‘business potential’ offered by this sector. This opens up new possibilities of nurturing synergistic partnerships between public, private and civil society organizations with the common objective of enhancing poor peoples’ livelihoods. One example of private sector promoted backyard poultry in India pertains to the ‘Kuroiler’ introduced by Keggfarms Private Ltd. Kuroiler – “Kegg + Broiler” is a dual purpose hardy bird with significantly higher productivity while it retains many desirable features of indigenous birds, such as the feather colors for camouflage, agility to escape from predators and resistance to diseases . Besides kuroiler, many colour broiler /layer or dual breed has been developed by CARI, CPDOs and other pvt organizations which can be reared as semi intensive or backyard system.
KUROILER MODEL——–
In the industrial hub of Khandsa in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, a sprawling campus surrounded by trees houses several poultry units. Among them, a small unit arrests one’s sight. It breeds Kuroilers, multi-coloured birds like the country hen, only that they grow bigger, lay more eggs, and provide livelihood to one million rural households in the country. The campus belongs to Keggfarms, a private firm that used parent and grandparent stocks from the US and pure bloodlines to create Kuroiler in the 1970s.
A Kuroiler lives on a diet of kitchen and agricultural waste. Kuroiler hens can deliver around 150 eggs per year, while native hens deliver 40. A Kuroiler chicken meat yield per bird is also more—a male bird weighs about 3.5 kg and female about 2.5 kg. The native male bird weighs 1 kg, while female 0.9 kg. Due to its unique genetic features, Kuroiler is resistant to diseases.
Introduced in the early 1990s, Kuroiler has become popular in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand. Large number of small, landless and marginal farmers breed these birds as a full-time or part-time business.
The USP Reinventing the basket-bicycle delivery network of supplying chicks, Keggfarms has over 1,500 mother units, 400 dealers and 1,500 village vendors.
The company supplies newborn chicks to mother units at around Rs 10 per chick. These units breed the chicks for 15 days and ensure that they gain around 300 grams each. They incur an expense of Rs 7 per chick.
After a gap of 15 to 20 days, the units sell the birds to vendors at a cost of Rs 17 per chick. The vendors then sell them to rural households at varied prices. A unit earns between Rs 3,800 and Rs 5,300 per month, while a vendor makes between Rs 1,100 to Rs 9,300 per month. For rural households, there is a choice whether they want to sell Kuroiler eggs or meat. People generally keep a stock of five to 20 live birds.
The reason newborn chicks are not supplied directly to farmers is because mortality rate of poultry chicks in the country is very high.The concept of mother unit was established because it minimise early chick mortality and provide method of immunisation so that the poultry farmer does not incur any loss. People working at the unit are trained for initial nursing of Kuroiler chicks.
What is unique about Kuroilers?
While breeding Kuroilers we considered several factors, like poultry in rural households is a woman-centric activity; chickens survived on agricultural and kitchen waste and supplementary feed like broken grains. So company developed chickens that could survive in these conditions.
Global recognition of KUROILER MODEL——-
Kuroiler’s successful model of farming has also been recognised at the global level. UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in its The State of Food and Agriculture 2009 report states: “On an average, households raising Kuroilers generated five times as much from their poultry enterprises as did households that kept non-Kuroiler poultry.” Keggfarms has also become a case study at the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School.
The model was also adopted as an experiment by the government of Uganda. During the field experiment in 2010-11, the Arizona State University observed that the bird yielded 133 per cent more meat, 462 per cent more eggs and 341 per cent increase in income over local chickens.
The Kuroiler model is an innovative model of rural poultry in India. Here are some grassroot level outcomes after its farming .
Outcomes
●Contribution to Household Income:
The impact of semi scavenging rearing has increased average net income per household .
●Nutrition:
Rearing these village hardy birds has enhanced food security and household nutrition. A 10% increase in meat consumption amongst the poorest, rising to 40% within different poultry keeper categories and home consumption of 60% of produced eggs within all income groups was assessed. Kuroiler are reared for eggs or for meat purpose depending on individual household’s orientation and market conditions. Women responsible for caring of birds and collecting/ selling ensure that eggs and to some extent meat became an integral part of their family’s diet. Home consumption of poultry products is found to be affected by various factors like economic status of the family, food habits, access to market, draught etc. Preferential food allocation was found to be common wherein a household, male members and children were offered food first while women ate at the end.
●Food Security:
Backyard poultry is kept by marginal farmers, landless or schedule castes/ backward castes. Most of these people work as daily wage labour on agricultural land or construction sites and are rendered jobless during monsoon months and face food insecurity. Rearing the hardy bird serves as an asset to be en-cashed and food to tide over these critical months.
●Gender Empowerment: The initiative had a remarkable impact on women’s livelihoods with explicit relations found between poultry rearing and women’s intra-household expenditure allocation, decision making and entrepreneurial capacities. Since rural women took care of the birds, they also retained the earnings from poultry keeping. Thus, rearing the village hardy bird was an enabling factor in empowering women. This varied from woman to woman based on her ‘inner realities’ i.e. her ability and capabilities to take a diverse set of decisions related to Kuroiler rearing. Across the board, women rearers got to deal with different people while purchasing and marketing table birds or eggs. By meeting different people, these women came out of their isolation and slowly gained confidence. Over a period of time entrepreneur skills improved and they were able to take decisions on their own. Women contributing to household income through Kuroiler keeping managed to create a space for themselves within their household. In a number of places women were seen to have formed informal groups to meet and discuss poultry issues resulting in knowledge sharing and gaining strength from group participation. Some women even gave up rolling beedi (local cigarettes) in favour of Kuroiler keeping, as beedi rolling was injurious and labour intensive. This small step of exercising ‘choice’ is in itself a sign of empowerment.
●Poultry serving as a stepping stone towards breaking the poverty trap:
Rearing the hardy bird was seen as a viable option to earn an income by old-women, widows, womanheaded households, schedule-castes and landless people. Since investment is considerably low, practically everyone could invest in the activity.
●Social aspects:
Although income in monetary terms from backyard poultry farming was not so high, rearers continue to keep it. Other functions like security, status, and asset were valued as much as the economic returns. Expenses of gifting clothes, sweets etc to visiting son-in-laws were catered for by selling a Kuroiler bird. Many festivals were celebrated through money obtained from Kuroiler sale. It also provided a social status to the poor and landless. A big bird was considered a matter of pride.
●Alternative to Utilisation of Forest Resources:
Women who used to harvest forest produce and got income through its sale are today organised into SHGs and are inducted into Kuroiler keeping by the Forest Department. This has resulted in prevention of depletion of forest wealth and provision of steady source of supplementary income for the women. ●Medical Emergencies:
Crisis in the form of medical emergencies were weathered through the sale of Kuroiler. Most of the villagers preferred private practitioners for health related issues and their fees as well as the cost of medicines were taken care of by the sale of Kuroiler.
●Knowledge transfer: The role played by the value chain in transfer of knowledge needs due acknowledgement. The dealer, supplier, mother unit owners and pheriwalas, all encouraged women to take up Kuroiler keeping by providing chicks, mash, medicines and sometimes credit at their doorsteps. Pheriwalas served as the crucial link between Kuroiler keepers and the mother units.
The Kuroiler model is an innovative model of rural poultry. Learning lessons from this model will be useful to develop successful projects for rural backyard poultry.
●A Strong Delivery Chain:
A key learning is the structure of the value chain that supports Kuroiler and this is what sets it apart from other models. It is not the bird, but the system that backs the bird that is the discriminating feature of these operations. Close coordination of the chain for flow of goods, services, and information and economic interdependence of agents in the chain contribute significantly towards its effective functioning. ●Profit beneficial for all: The profit motive is generally associated with exploitation but here it became the binding factor that assured sustainability of the Kuroiler model deriving from the inter dependence of all stakeholders.
●Need for Greater Technical Cooperation:
It has been reported that if several birds were dying in a region, the Pheriwala who serviced the area would stop going there. This can be a big hindrance in developing faith and building new areas for business. Stronger technical support to the value chain might help address these issues. Finding networks, alliances and partners to upgrading the technical skills of the agents within the value chain will be very beneficial as the information will flow well to the farmer level.
●Role of the Government Agencies:
The relevant arm of the Government needs to be far more active and pro-active in disease control and surveillance and provision of extension information. In the information collected in the survey, none of the poultry rearers received poultry related extension information through the Governmental or NonGovernmental channel. Most households developed the know-how through experience 7 and by consulting each other . The poultry keepers were not at all aware of the danger of Bird Flu and all mortality was often mistaken with New Castle disease until the outbreak was confirmed by the government.
●Poverty is not just about Income:
A key learning from this practice is in widening the common understanding of poverty. Here for rearers, poverty reduction was not merely an increase in income, but also the availability of an invaluable nutritional source which built household capabilities. The good practice showcased the subjectivity of asset development wherein the poorest found it prestigious to meet social obligations through poultry, with case studies revealing psychological faith in poultry to save families in times of medical emergencies or fees payments; thereby establishing symbiotic links between poultry rearing and enhanced quality of life of poorest.
●Working within Rearers Resource Base:
Rearers valued the Kuroiler business because of low rearing costs and the fact that the enterprise fitted well within their limited resource base, social hierarchies, anxieties and gender based household dynamics. These elements are critical for the sustainability of any initiative.
●Public-Private Cooperation:
There are significant spaces and avenues for private companies and government to work together cooperatively and collaboratively so as to combine their strengths for further enhancement of poultry based livelihoods. The Kuroiler model showcases the openness and scope for such an initiative and role sharing especially in areas concerning research and development and building sustainable delivery channels.
.Backyard Poultry Farming; a low input business with high economic returns
Rural population living in India constitutes 72.2 per cent of the total population, which is predominantly occupied by poor, marginal farmers and landless labourers. Backyard poultry production is an old age profession of rural families of India. It is the most potent source for subsidiary incomes for landless and poor farmers. It is an enterprise with low initial investment but higher economic returns and can easily be managed by women, children and old aged persons of the households. Now-a-days, poultry meat and eggs have been the best and cheapest sources for meeting out the per capita requirement of protein and energy for rural areas of India.
Though India has shown a tremendous growth in poultry production over decades but rural poultry farming is still lagging behind and always found neglected. As it is the best alternative for the small scale farmers to subsidise the income with negligible input, this farming system needs an upliftment with recent advancement of research in the field of rearing of chicks, balanced feeding, disease control and efficient marketing system for the egg and meat. Now-a-days, the backyard poultry can easily start with good egg laying birds of RIR (Rhode Island Red), Chabro, Punjab Red and Partapdhan breeds.
Backyard poultry production system is a low input business and is characterized by indigenous night shelter system, scavenging system, natural hatching of chicks, poor productivity of birds, with little supplementary feeding, local marketing and no health care practice. Poultry development plays a crucial role in increasing egg and chicken meat production. Indian demand for poultry products will be enhanced at 4.8 per cent where as the supply of poultry products will grow at 5.2 per cent per year over the decade which is faster than for any other type of animal product. The production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5–2 per cent per annum, where as eggs and broilers has been shown to rise at a rate of 8-10 per cent per annum but the growth has been mainly restricted to commercial poultry. In India, growth in the livestock sector can definitely contribute to poverty reduction, because of the peoples lived in rural areas depends on livestock for their daily livelihoods. It has also been observed that the demand for the animal protein source is increasing rapidly in developing countries.
Raising of local poultry breeds in backyard is an important source of livelihood for the rural people. Small holdings containing 2-3 hens per unit were found to be more efficient producer of eggs compared to those with 5 or more hens per unit. Main interest of the poultry farmers having backyard poultry is not production of eggs as returns are very low from sale of eggs. They hatch all their eggs and sale them as birds because of broodiness habit of these breeds.
Advantages of backyard poultry farming ——–
There are many advantages of rural poultry farming system which are given follows:
• Gives employment to the rural small scale and marginal farmers.
• Provides additional income to the rural communities.
• Aids in enhancing the soil fertility in backyards (15 chickens produce 1-1.2 kg of manure/day).
• Products from rural poultry farming fetches high price compared to those from intensive poultry farming. Almost double the rates of brown shelled eggs in the local market.
• Provides egg and meat with almost no or very less investment through backyard poultry farming in free range system.
• Birds reared under free range conditions give eggs and meat of low cholesterol concentration compared to those produced under intensive poultry farming.
• Lessens protein malnutrition in susceptible groups like pregnant women, feeding mothers and children.
Management of backyard poultry birds ————
Feeding: In backyard poultry farming, the feed cost is considered to be minimum. The birds collect the required protein, energy, minerals and vitamins etc. From snails, termites, leftover grains, crop residues and household wastes. Feed ingredients like broken groundnut straw and wheat grains can also be given to the chicks. The chicks may be supplied with extra concentrate ration@30-60 gm/day/chick for better performance. The chicks need balanced feed during the initial 6 weeks of age under brooder by providing balanced chick feed during the early period of growth. The average body weight of 1.5 to 2.0 kg will be attained up to 5 weeks and if required should be provided with supplemental calcium sources like lime stone powder, dicalcium phosphate (DCP), stone grit, shell grit at 4 to 5 grams/bird/day.
Ingredients for balanced ration
Ingredient 0-8 week old birds 9-20 week old
birds More than 20 week old birds
Maize 52 45 46
Soybean 18 – 15
Groundnut oil 13 13 8
Rice polish – 35 –
Deoiled rice polish 15 – 22
Fish meal – 06 –
Limestone – – 7
Dicalcium phosphate 2 01 02
Salt (g) 200 – 300
Vitamins (A,B,D,K) g 15 15 15
B complex 20 20 20
Vitamin B12 15 – –
Trace minerals (g) 50 50 50
Coccidiostat + – –
Floor space: The chick should be provided sufficient feed and floor space. Overcrowding results in stress and mortality chick requires 8 square inches of feeding space. During the 6th week, 1 sq. ft. floor space per chick must be provided to avoid overcrowding.
Space requirement for poultry
Age
(Weeks) Floor space
(sq. ft) Feeding space
(cm) Watering space (cm)
0-4 0.5 2.5 1.5
4-8 1.0 5.0 2.0
8-12 2.0 6.5 2.5
Ventilation:
Supply of fresh air to the chicks is highly essential. Brooding will cause depletion of oxygen and build up of carbon dioxide, ammonia etc., the airtight curtains should be avoided. It is recommended to keep a gap of 3.5 inches between the ceiling and side curtains to facilitate gas exchange between the house and environment. In extreme weather conditions, windows, doors and fans need to be effectively used to maintain optimum ventilation.
Beak trimming:
Trimming of beak is an important managemental practice. This is done to
prevent cannibalism and wastage of feed. Beak trimming is a sensitive operation and it
should be done by trained people. The beak trimming is done at 3rd week and one third of upper beak should be trimmed.
Litter management:
Litter management place a vital role in controlling the disease in the flock. When birds are housed on deep litter, placing of waters and their maintenance should receive due attention to keep the litter dry. The litter should be stirred at regular intervals
depending on the environmental temperature, humidity, ventilation fecal moisture content, quality of water system.
Health issues:
Rural chicks need brooding care during the initial 6 weeks of age. After 6 weeks, they can be let free for scavenging in the backyard. The excess males can be reared separately and marketed for meat purpose. The night shelter should have good ventilation and protection from predators and plenty of clean water should be made available. The birds must be vaccinated against Marek’s and Ranikhet diseases. There should be periodic de worming at 3-4 months intervals.
Importance of local breeds in backyard poultry farming system ———–
Smallholder backyard poultry production utilizing local breeds is expected to come under serious competition with the commercial poultry sector and if not well planned the genetic resources of local poultry shall be lost. Conservation of local poultry breeds along with improvement for traits like meat and eggs will increase competitiveness to survive in the market. The socio-religious use of local poultry breeds, superior adaptability in their habitat, ability to perform in low input production system and the production system which is similar to organic production will be the competitive advantages of backyard system over commercial poultry production. Poultry keeping in backyard gives very high return as the investment is very low. The local breeds of poultry/indigenous poultry genetic resources are held in high esteem even after 50 years of industrial poultry production because of the following reasons:-
• Local poultry breeds exhibit superior adaptability in their habitat and possess the ability to survive, produce and reproduce on low plane of nutrition and sub-optimal management.
• The inputs required are very small, as they scavenge their feed requirements and are raised with little veterinary care.
• They possess the ability to protect themselves from predators.
• All the local breeds show broodiness and hatch their own chicks making the system auto generating.
• People have a preference for eggs and meat of indigenous poultry compared to those realized from farm-bred chickens consequently eggs and meat from local breeds are sold at a premium price.
• Cock fighting is a popular sport for the ethnic tribes and the local breeds are superior to exotic breeds in fighting.
• Use of coloured bird for socio-religious use.
Points kept in mind for backyard poultry farming ———-
• Trainings:
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• Poultry farmers must approach to Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s to obtain the basic training on backyard poultry farming. This is very useful for rearing of chicks, feeding, housing and disease management.
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• Exhibitions:
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• Through regular exhibition of local poultry breeds in Kisan Melas, Animal Camps, Livestock Championship and other poultry exhibitions. This helps in the selection of good quality birds.
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• Breeding of local poultry breeds:
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• Since most of the small holder poultry farmers are poor, Government should extend assistance to improve the poultry farming system by providing good quality chicks to the backyard poultry and suggest for multiplication of birds at their own level from these good quality hens. Within a time frame the skills are to be transferred to farmers at village level. Attempt, however, should be made to retain broodiness in the local stocks since it makes the system auto generating. These hens are used for producing the chicks at home level.
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• Record keeping:
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• In order to improve egg production there is a need to record the performance of individual hens for egg production. It is not a problem to obtain this information since each hen lays her egg in a separate nest regularly. This will provide information on laying capacity and hatching performance for each hen. Those hens with higher egg production and hatchability should be selected to reproduce next generation.
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• Vaccination schedule:
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• Follow the vaccination schedule given below:
Age of birds Name of vaccine Name of disease Doses Route of vaccination
Day old chicks HVT MD Vaccine Marek’s disease 0.2 ml s/c or i/m
4-7 days F-1/Lasota Ranikhet disease One drop Eye or nostril
14 to 18 days Intermediate plus Gumboro disease – Drinking water
35 days F-1/Lasota Ranikhet disease One drop Eye and nostril
6 to 7 weeks Chicken embryo adopted Fowl Pox 0.5 ml Wing stab method
8 to weeks Strain killed vaccine Ranikhet disease 0.5 ml s/c or i/m
• Extension services:
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• Extension support for health care, input supply, market linkages and other aspects should be readily available at village level. The people should participate in the health care and breed development programme.
Majority of the farmers expressed their willingness to increase their poultry activities, although the highest proportions of the farmers were medium producers. In order to increase poultry production at the farmers’ level, a systemic training program should be organized specifically for rural communities. Additionally, extension and motivational work along with technical support should also be conducted in the villages to en-courage farmers to rear and consume more backyard system of poultry production, since this is a means of sustainable livelihood of poorer sections of the society and will help in food production, food security and providing employment to rural peoples. Lack of technical knowledge, lack of suitable germplasm, decrease in availability of natural resources of feed and inadequate veterinary support is the alarming constraints of the traditional backyard poultry production system.
Reference-On Request
